Question of the day: why officials do not build swimming pools in the province?

Kemerovo civic activist Andrey German asked in his publication a simple question that perfectly characterizes the attitude of Russian officials towards ordinary citizens: why there are no swimming pools in most Russian cities?

“Their opening in the city is an intergalactic event. In Kemerovo, for example, today there is no 50-meter pool. And there is no beach, not a single official beach.

In many countries similar to Russia in climatic conditions, the pool is not something magical, and in addition to ordinary pools, outdoor pools are being built.

There are several such pools in Helsinki. One works year-round with sea water, and there is also the oldest in the country - in the open air, which operates from early May to mid-September. The water temperature during this period is always maintained at 27 degrees, and even higher in the children's section of the pool. There is a fee to enter, but only a few euros and therefore, of course, for the municipality, this is an expense. However, the authorities go to these costs and even discuss the issue to make the pool year-round.

I am sure someone will say that Helsinki is the capital of Finland and it cannot be compared with Kemerovo or other cities of the country. Yes, Helsinki is the capital, but the city is not at all large by the standards of Russia. In addition, there are such pools in other cities of Finland, which are much smaller than Kemerovo. For example, the city of Porvoo. The population is about 50 thousand people, and the city has an indoor pool and an outdoor one, and there are 7 beaches within 20 km.

Why am I talking about this? The expenses of the municipality and budgets of all levels are needed to spend budgets on creating a high level of quality of life for people. And all the talk about who it will contain does not make sense.

There is one more important point. It is the creation of such a high quality of life for people that ensures victory in elections for parties, deputies, mayors, and the president. We have just pre-election time. In September we will witness the elections of deputies and the appointment of the mayor of Kemerovo. Neither the mayor nor any of the candidates for deputies crushes simple questions of the quality of life of people, that roads should be safe for people, that there should be pedestrian infrastructure, that there should be green areas, parks, that it is necessary to create a green frame for the city, that accessible sports are needed. objects, and not giants like an ice arena, we need places for summer recreation - beaches, etc., and so on.

If the candidates for deputies do not speak about this, then what will they do as deputies? "

For reference:

In the United States, the total number of competitive pools with a population of about 350,000,000 people in 2015 exceeded 270,000. That is, for every 50,000 people there were 44 swimming pools for various kinds of competitions. All in all, the number of swimming pools in the USA exceeds 2 million units!

Access to the competition pools for athletes (children, youths and adults who practice swimming) is almost everywhere free, the pools live on the support of various foundations, donations from wealthy parents and contributions from sports federations. The cost of visits for ordinary citizens is about $ 10 (this is with an average salary in the United States of $ 3600 per month).

The number of swimming pools in Germany with a population of 90 million people is about 79,000 , so in the early 2000s Germany was the leader in many swimming competitions for a long time and only in the 2010s lost the championship to athletes from the United States. The cost of a single visit to the swimming pool in Germany is 4 euros for an adult (with an average salary of 3500 euros per month).

The total number of competition pools in Russia with a population of 146 million people is about 4,800. Cities with a population of less than 50,000 do not have a single swimming pool (private saunas and cottages are not taken into account).